John Authers, Columnist

Cheap, Not Trump, Is Why European Stocks Are Spiking

Real optimism is absent, especially in Germany, but the new administration might be the gut-punch the Old World needs.

January 23, 2025 at 5:01 AM UTC

John Authers is a senior editor for markets and Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A former chief markets commentator at the Financial Times, he is author of “The Fearful Rise of Markets.”

Election Day at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg

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It’s hard to avert your gaze from the US at present. And yet, in financial markets, there’s more excitement in Europe. Shares in the euro zone have underperformed the US for 17 years, in a trend accelerated by Donald Trump’s return to power. But in the last few weeks, the STOXX 50 index of European blue chips has enjoyed a bounce. It’s way too soon to say that a new trend is underway, but there are embers of enthusiasm for European equities out there: